DNA companies take a stand on police access The news that Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) had allowed law enforcement to submit crime scene samples into its testing database to search for the identities of suspects without a court order has rocked the genealogical community. 1,534 more words
via Looking at the alternatives — The Legal Genealogist.
Thank you to Judy G. Russell for making a post that details each company’s policies on the topic.
Here’s hoping that FamilyTree DNA (FTDNA) listens to customers. I am out a lot of money for DNA testing with FTDNA since I opted out of matching until they decide that law enforcement needs valid court documentation (warrant, court order, etc.).
To those who don’t understand why this is important and fall into the “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t have to worry crowd,” there are many innocent people in jail who had the same attitude. All it takes is a bad, corrupt, incompetent, lazy, apathetic, or overzealous law enforcement or prosecutor show why FTDNA and GEDmatch‘s policies are bad. I doubt it will take too long before we see such a case unfold.
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Looking at the alternatives,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 10 Feb 2019).